Greensboring.com | Greensboro, NC

I needed to rekey the locks in my house. Last time I did it myself but it's time consuming - and expensive if you go to a locksmith. Besides the hardware was looking shabby, it was worn and the brass had tarnished.

So I went to the hardware store and discovered the new Weiser smartkey locks.

Traditional cylinder locks use pins with varying lengths - the key lifts them so that they have a common shear line and allows the lock to open. They are relatively easy to pick, can be 'bumped' in seconds and to rekey them you have to dismantle them - remove the cylinders and replace the pins. A minimum of 30 minutes per lock - if all goes well




The SmartKey design uses slotted bars instead of pins and cannot be bumped - and is apparently a lot more difficult to pick.

And rekeying them takes 15 seconds. You need the old key, the new key and the 'SmartKey'
The only obvious difference is the SmartKey slot

To rekey:

Insert the old key and rotate 90 clockwise

Push the SmartKey into the little slot and remove it

Without turning the lock insert the new key and rotate back

Voila - done.

What this means is that if you need to leave a key for a repair guy, a neighbour to house sit or pet sit, or whatever, you can rekey the lock, give them a temporary key and disable it when you get back.

I've installed them, rekeyed them - thoroughly recommended!

I've seen those at the store.

A few years back they had a door lock that operated off a key fob like a car alarm... I went looking for one a while back and never found it again... (didn't look very hard)...

Although you don't need to remove the cylinder to rekey them, I like to take things apart.

It's not obvious how to remove the cylinder from a SmartKey doorknob so here are the instructions, This applies to other new model but not SmartKey Weiser door knobs

This is the cylinder after removal

You can see the two springy tabs that hold the cylinder in place, Your task - if you choose to accept it - is to release those tabs

First step is to remove the square section center actuator


To do this you need to press on the tab marked, while pulling on the actuator rod


This takes three hands so I couldn't take a photo while doing it, but I pushed the tab with the punch while pulling the actuator with the pliers. It took a bit of jiggling



With the actuator rod out you can see down into the hole to the spring clips. You need to release them both at the same time. You could use screwdrivers, but I found that two BBQ skewers worked perfectly

Slide one down the curved plate, when you can feel the spring push it behind the spring and hold it with your finger while probing on the other side of the hole with the second skewer/tool. When you feel the other spring, push that and the cylinder will pop out.



Reassembly is a whole lot easier. Just snap the cylinder in, push on the tab and reinsert the actuator

This won't make sense unless you have the unit in front of you, but it should save some time working out how to do it should you ever want to

Why obsessing over lock pickability is likely a waste of time

One of the old doorknob locksets wouldn't unscrew. The screw had corroded in place and the head was stripped. No problem. Go outside with a 3/16 drill bit and quickly pop two holes through where the shafts are mounted - 20 seconds later the lock fell off.






You can also see why I wanted to replace the locksets. Nasty cheap stuff made in Taiwan at the lowest possible cost.

Weiser 'Smart Key' it's not. They can easily be forced open. See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR-h64WwfW8 . As a locksmith I have come across a number of these locks that fail within days of installation. The parts in there are so small and fragile, it doesn't take much for them to fail. In some cases all it takes is someone to try the wrong key, then it fails, I get called out to open it and sure enough the only answer is to force it open and replace it. Sometimes costing the customer far more than they tried to save by getting their old locks rekeyed because I get called out after midnight. A few have been lucky enough to still have their old locks in the new packagingI personally have to deal with this travesty of a lock on average twice a month, and I'm only 1 out of many locksmiths out there. A high quality lock is always the way to go, parts can be replaced if needed without having to replace a whole lock, not so with any lock you get at a hardware or big box store. If you want a 2nd, 3rd or 100th opinion, call any locksith out there and just simply ask them what they think of the Weiser 'Smart Key'. Also, it takes a locksmith 30 minutes at Most to rekey a lock, 4 minutes at best.

Almost all household locks can be forced - either by putting a large screwdriver in the key hole and forcing it round - or by using a drill. A drill bit inserted at the shear line takes about 30 seconds to open a lock and does not require ordering a special tool on the Internet.

If you are going to order a special tool on the Internet - then you can order tools to open all sorts of locks - e.g. http://www.lockpickersmall.com/force-tools.html for $84 you can buy a tool to force Schlage F series locks - i.e. a 'high quality, commercial grade lock' can be forced just as quickly as a SmartKey one

You say the Smartkey can accidentally forced by 'trying the wrong key'. In the Youtube examples the lock forcer needed to use vice grips to turn the tool - hardly likely to occur from 'trying the wrong key' Using a vice grip on a key will simply shear the key off in the lock.

I do understand why locksmiths don't think much to SmartKey Quikset locks and would rather you bought a 'high quality lock' from them. I would too in their circumstances